1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid cartridges configured to be mounted to a main body of a liquid ejecting apparatus, such as an ink cartridge for an ink-jet printer
2. Description of Related Art
A known ink-jet printer, such as an ink-jet printer described in JP-A-2001-071522, comprises a printer main body and an ink cartridge configured to be removably mounted to the printer main body. The ink cartridge comprises two joint portions configured to selectively communicate an interior and an exterior of the ink cartridge for supplying ink to the printer main body, and a wall extending around the joint portions. The wall comprises a key groove for preventing erroneous mounting of the ink cartridge to the printer main body and a memory medium configured to store information relating to the cartridge.
The two joint portions protrude from the ink cartridge further than the wall, and the joint portions comprise resilient members, respectively. Accordingly, even when the ink cartridge falls with the joint portions facing downward and the joint portions come first into contact with a floor surface, the impact of the contact is absorbed by the resilient members. Accordingly, the likelihood that the wall is broken is reduced, and therefore the likelihood that the key groove and the memory medium is broken is reduced.
However, when the ink cartridge falls, the impact is exerted to the two joint portions intensively, breakage of the two joint portions or disassembly of components of the joint portions may be resulted. Because the joint portions are configured to communicate the interior and the exterior of the ink cartridge, if the joint portions are broken or disassembled, ink stored in the interior of the ink cartridge leaks to the exterior via the joint portions. Consequently, the periphery of the ink cartridge may be soiled with the ink.